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Google is rolling out a complete design overhaul for Google+, its social network that is still searching for traction four years after launch.

The company said in a Tuesday blog post that it has been talking to fans to figure out what makes Google+ stand out to them. The answer: it offers a place to share and talk about common interests.

So Google says it put that at the center of everything as it built a new version of the site from the ground up. Now, its social network is an “even better place for your interests,” product director Luke Wroblewski wrote in a Google+ post.

The change marks a pretty drastic pivot from when the service was founded in 2011 as essentially a Facebook challenger. But with Facebook showing no signs of loosening its grip on the social media market, Google seems to be forging ahead in an attempt to carve out its own niche.

Wroblewski writes that the design team “drastically simplified nearly every aspect of the product,” and brought Collections and Communities features front and center. With Collections, users can browse publicly-posted content on certain topics, like surfing. Communities, meanwhile, are public or private groups you join in order to talk about shared interests, like Game of Thrones.

Google+ Collections help users browse public posts by topic.
Google+ Collections help users browse public posts by topic.

“With Collections and Communities, discovering amazing things is simple: just follow or join whatever happens to pique your interests,” Wroblewski wrote.

The company says it hasn’t built every Google+ feature into the new site yet, so users can toggle back and forth between both versions. The company says users will start seeing prompts to try out the redesigned site today, though it doesn’t look like the update has reached every account quite yet.

“While this is an exciting new beginning for us, we’re definitely not done yet,” Wroblewski wrote. “We got here by listening and learning, and will continue doing so.”

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